Team drills during day one of the Cal football team's fall camp were familiar all over the place: Kevin Riley quarterbacked the first-team offense, Jahvid Best flanked him, Nyan Boateng was out wide and the defensive line and secondary lined up in the 3-4 across from them were carbon copies of 2008. The old faces meant experience, and for a team that broke in a new group of receivers and a completely new defensive scheme last year, that's new. It showed in a spirited 90-minute practice Friday night, during which the Bears moved through a standard practice for the first time since spring looking like they were way past learning how to walk.
"You can tell that there's a lot of experience in certain positions we didn't have last year, such as the receiver position," coach Jeff Tedford said. "There's no question the experience with the defense, the experience with the offense, with the returners, everything moves much more smoothly."
Riley, as Tedford said he would, took the majority of the first-team snaps flanked by Best, who looked healthy and agile after missing all of spring ball recovering from surgeries on his elbow and foot. The junior quarterback connected with receiver Marvin Jones for a 60-plus-yard pass on the third play of skeleton offense and was quick with his delivery throughout. He also looked comfortable taking snaps from one of the few new faces on offense -- center Chris Guarnero, who moved over from guard during the offseason to replace departed All-American Alex Mack -- as the offense didn't botch one snap.
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